But that fear was alleviated Thursday night when he signed with Colorado-based Furniture Row Racing, which has an open seat for its No. 78 car thanks to the departure of Kurt Busch to Stewart-Haas Racing. The team announced the deal Friday morning at Texas Motor Speedway.

"I was terrified," Truex said of losing his ride so late in the season. "My first thought was, 'What am I going to do next year? It's September.' It was like getting punched in the face. Right away, it was like, 'Uh oh. This is bad. This could be real bad.'"

His next thought was how he could contact Furniture Row, which made the Chase for the Sprint Cup for the first time this season but had an opening. As it turned out, the team felt the same way about hearing Truex was available.

"It's an opportunity you just couldn't even dream about having," general manager Joe Garone said.

An ensuing NASCAR penalty knocked Truex out of the Chase and ultimately led NAPA to pull its sponsorship. MWR then said Truex was free to leave the team because it didn't have a seat for him next season.

"It's something I never thought could ever happen," Truex said. "It's the unimaginable."

But after signing his name on a multi-year contract, Truex said his relief came from what he said was a rare opportunity to get a good ride after most of NASCAR's "Silly Season" had already concluded.

"As unlucky as I got at Richmond, I got just as lucky when this deal turned up," he said. "... Nine out of 10 years in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, if somebody would have lost their ride at the time I did, the chances of getting a ride of this caliber are slim to none at best."

Truex should have a relatively good shot to make the Chase again next season. Furniture Row is currently aligned with Richard Childress Racing, and close friend Ryan Newman will be a psuedo-teammate to Truex next season along with Austin Dillon and Paul Menard.

Though he hasn't been to Furniture Row's shop in Denver yet, Truex will be joined next season by his current pit crew at MWR. Pit road has been a weak spot for Busch's team this year.

In a statement shortly after the announcement, MWR congratulated Truex on his move.

"We are very happy to see him in a competitive ride next year and appreciate the professionalism everyone showed throughout this entire process," the team said.